"As Africa’s digital dynamism grows, its participation in global digital policy must increase. In this transition, African countries have to navigate the geopolitical realities of our times. This study provides a snapshot of Africa’s digital diplomacy by examining the holistic representations of
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national and continental interests in the digital realm. In addition to the role of official diplomacy, this study also looks at the roles of tech developers, businesses, local communities, and others with the necessary skills and expertise for participation in international digital policy. It is critical that many African countries mobilise all human and institutional resources to enable their active engagement in digital foreign policy and diplomacy. While most African countries are in the early phase of their digital diplomacy journey, there are many practices and initiatives that could help a faster take off of digital diplomacy in Africa. These practices and initiatives are identified in this study with many concrete examples, 55 charts and infographics, over 500 references, and case studies of 8 African countries." (About this study)
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"On the surface, Namibia’s stellar reputation as the beacon of media freedom remains intact, but the role of the Fourth Estate in speaking truth to power is gradually being eroded as state officials become increasingly intolerant of the media in Namibia. The perceptible decline in the media landsc
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ape is evidenced by the intimidatory tactics the state has been using to discourage journalists from reporting on certain issues [...] Namibia’s legal and policy framework offers strong protection for freedom of expression and media freedom through Article 21 of the constitution. This is further bolstered by Article 144 of the constitution on international law, which automatically incorporates regional and international protocols, agreements and treaties signed and ratified by the Namibian government into the domestic legal system. However, commitment to the notions contained in these regional and international protocols and conventions seems to be solely on paper ..." (Summary, page 5)
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"This report is intended to provide a broad review of the use and emerging governance of AI technology in Southern Africa. It aims at initiating public discussions and policy dialogue not only on the technological implications of the use of AI, but also on the social, political, and ethical signific
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ance and consequences of it. Through this report, UNESCO’s objective is also to provide the evidence that AI technologies are already being used in many domains and sectors in Southern Africa, thus countering the narrative that the ethics of AI is still premature to be discussed and taken seriously by the local actors in the region. The analysis comprises four parts that, read together, present a review of key policies, use cases, risks and opportunities for the design, development, governance and usage of responsible AI in the region. These are: (i) AI Regulatory and Policy Mapping; (ii) Analysis of Artificial Intelligence Applications; (iii) Ethical Risk of AI Use (derived from the findings in the policy mapping and use case analysis); and (iv) Key Opportunities and Recommendations." (Introduction)
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"Este relatório fornece transcrições resumidas de consultas nacionais sobre a viabilidade da mídia com as partes interessadas no setor dos meios de comunicação. As consultas nacionais são baseadas nas trocas de conhecimento e pesquisas proporcionadas pela UNESCO e pela The Economist Intellige
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nce Unit (EIU) e visam explorar a viabilidade de possíveis soluções para preservar a viabilidade da mídia sem comprometer a independência editorial e a integridade do jornalismo. As consultas nacionais foram organizadas e resumidas pela Free Press Unlimited (FPU)." (Introdução)
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"Press freedom is said to be a necessary pillar of democracy. As many sub-Saharan African nations move towards creating or strengthening democracies, examining their levels of press freedom may be an important element. This study utilizes public opinion data from 10 nations in the sub-Saharan Africa
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n region and international press freedom rankings from Reporters Without Borders to better understand both how important (or not) citizens view press freedom to be in their country and how those beliefs compare to global metrices between 2011 and 2018. Results show clear differences in citizen beliefs about press freedom across countries, but no clear relationship between citizen beliefs and global rankings. A connection between individual perceptions and global rankings may take more time to manifest, and/or a nation’s cultural values and political landscape likely have the strongest impact on citizen beliefs." (Abstract)
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"The Global Handbook of Media Accountability brings together leading scholars to 'de-Westernize' the academic debate on media accountability and discuss different models of media self-regulation and newsroom transparency around the globe. With examination of the status quo of media accountability in
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forty-four countries worldwide, it offers a theoretically informed, comparative analysis of accountability regimes of different varieties. As such, it constitutes the first interdisciplinary academic framework comparing structures of media accountability across all continents and represents an invaluable basis for further research and policy-making. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of media studies and journalism, mass communication, sociology and political science, as well as policy-makers and practitioners." (Publisher description)
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"It aims at providing a holistic view of digital transformation in the agriculture sector of 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The region’s digital agriculture landscape is assessed through six key themes, namely: infrastructure, digital penetration, policy and regulation, business environment,
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human capital and agro-innovation. Beyond the analysis of the region against the six focal themes, the report presents both the status-quo and challenges faced by countries in their digital transformation journeys, which can assist policymakers to identify possible areas of intervention to drive the process of agricultural digitalization in the region. It highlights the need to strengthen digital infrastructure for universal connectivity, to connect the unconnected in sub-Saharan Africa and to support the integration of digital technologies to advance digital agricultural transformation." (Foreword)
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"Namibia was thus added as a beneficiary country under the MDP in the second quarter of 2021, with the aim of reviewing the current draft bill and of increasing awareness on the right to access information by mobilizing government, civil society, and the Namibian public to take ownership and contrib
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ute to the achievement of SDG target 16.10. Actions deployed for this purpose were aligned with the global theme of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2021, “Information as a Public Good” and with the Windhoek+30 Declaration." (Page 2)
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"The chapters here explore the impact, especially of Covid-19, on the media while unpacking the complexities, intersections and dynamics surrounding technological, political and economic developments and trends. Similarly, media discourses on journalism practice, audience narratives and news discour
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ses are taken up. The contributors revisit and offer critical insights on a broad range of theories and debates, including political economy of the media, constructive journalism, the Fourth Estate, securitization and journalist safety. As such, we obtain a deeper understanding of the changes and continuities surrounding discourses on news frames, trends, actors and agendas in the context of health crises. Also, the important role for public health communication and the notion of ‘information’ as a ‘public good’, especially during health crises, i.e. Covid-19, are invaluable areas of discussion. Lastly, the volume contributes to new insights on media discourses around regulation, representation and marginalization in the context of health crises. We learn, for instance, how several governments under the guise of ‘national safety’ continue to impinge on human rights and freedom of expression for both producers and consumers. This occurs through loopholes in existing regulation but also because of non-existent policy like on social media and citizen journalism and affordances of impunity." (Preface, page xii)
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"The call to decolonize African Studies has a profound influence on the field, with varying degrees of success. This article addresses this topic in relation to the author’s personal experiences in the publishing industry in Namibia. By describing the attempt to publish a historical book about Nam
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ibian beer with a well-known German–Namibian publishing house, the lingering power of German–Namibian settler colonialism becomes clear. This article renders visible the power structures within the Namibian book market that perpetuates a whitewashed version of Namibian history and argues that decolonizing knowledge cannot succeed without paying attention to the (private) publishing industry." (Abstract)
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"The intersection between media and politics remains very strong in several countries under study. In these conditions, there is often little transparency on media ownership and a lack of transparency on local funding sources of media. Relatedly, in some cases, a change in government policies was ra
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ised as an important precondition to possibly change the negative discourse towards the (public) media. A different political climate may benefit the financial conditions of a media outlet, for instance by lifting difficulties in acquiring media licenses or access to (governmental) funding by independent media. The advertisement markets for media are, in many of the countries under study, still controlled by a few large, more traditional media outlets. Generally, the advertising market is driven by a number of factors, including a network, political patronage, and the ability of media owners to utilise relationships with the corporate sector. Due to the digitalisation of media and the advertising market, the market has further changed over the past years. There is limited to no regulation in the distribution of advertisement funding based on quality standards for journalism. Some media practitioners proposed to address this problem by stimulating national governments to support regulatory bodies for media advertisement. While digital advertisement is on the rise, most revenue of online (media) advertisement is directed to big tech companies. An increased amount of advertising money is flowing towards social media platforms, and Internet advertising has been rising exponentially, as observed in all countries under study. The media sector as a whole is suffering from this trend, particularly the more traditional print media who are struggling to make the transition to online media. In some countries under study, media are not even eligible to generate an income on the large social media platforms. Policies to regulate online advertisement is imperative to strengthen the competition position of traditional media." (Global trends, page 9)
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"Der Umgang mit der Kolonialgeschichte, die hierzulande lange im Schatten der Aufarbeitung des Nationalsozialismus und des Holocaust stand, unterliegt gegenwärtig einem grundlegenden Wandel. Zwar zählt auch Deutschland faktisch zu den postkolonialen Gesellschaften Europas, doch ist diese Tatsache
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kaum in das Bewusstsein der Menschen und in das Handeln der Politik vorgedrungen. Der Sammelband zieht Bilanz und will zugleich die notwendige Auseinandersetzung um eine Dekolonisierung globaler wie lokaler Machtverhältnisse und eine Dekolonialisierung der immer noch dominierenden Wissens- und Deutungsmacht des »Westens« anregen. Die aktuellen Debatten um den Völkermord an den Herero und Nama oder die koloniale Beutekunst im geplanten Humboldt Forum in Berlin richten den Fokus ein ums andere Mal auf eine koloniale Vergangenheit, die nicht vergehen will." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Of the eight countries surveyed here, only four have comprehensive data protection privacy acts in place: Kenya, South Africa, Togo and Uganda. But as these research reports suggest, this is not necessarily a strong indicator of whether a country is committed to privacy rights, or of the efficacy o
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f a country’s legislative environment in ensuring the right to privacy and data protection. Instead, reading across the reports, what can be described as an asymmetry between legislation and practice is evident at different levels. This asymmetry can be political – for example, Togo, an effective constitutional dictatorship marked by fierce government crackdowns on opposition and recent reports of surveillance of religious and political leaders, enacted a data protection law in 2019, and is one of the few countries in Africa to have ratified the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention). Yet, as the country author suggests, “This interest [by policy makers in digital rights] is not necessarily to protect the citizens but rather out of concern to adapt state policies to the global digital situation.” This asymmetry also concerns the regulatory framework for the implementation of a data protection act. Amongst the countries surveyed here, South Africa was the first to pass a protection of personal information act (in 2013), but still has not implemented the necessary regulations to give practical force to the law. In contrast, while Nigeria’s privacy law is still in draft form, it already has what the country author describes as “watershed” privacy regulations." (Introduction, page 5)
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"For the first time, a complete mapping of the film and audiovisual industry in 54 States of the African continent is available, including quantitative and qualitative data and an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses at the continental and regional levels. The report proposes strategic recomme
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ndations for the development of the film and audiovisual sectors in Africa and invites policymakers, professional organizations, firms, filmmakers and artists to implement them in a concerted manner. The film and audiovisual industry in Africa has the potential to create over 20 million jobs and generate US$20 billion in revenues per year." (Short summary, page 2)
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"Die Debatten um die Anerkennung des Ovaherero- und Nama-Genozids (1904-1908) im heutigen Namibia haben in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten wachsende öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit erhalten. Kaya de Wolff hat die deutschsprachige Presseberichterstattung in den Jahren 2001 bis 2016 über den Umgang mit de
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n Verbrechen deutscher Kolonialtruppen untersucht. Sie zeigt, aufgrund welcher Anlässe und auf welche Weisen medial an die historischen Ereignisse erinnert wird, welche Stimmen dabei (nicht) gehört werden und welche gesellschaftlichen Machtverhältnisse und Normen den Anerkennungskampf der Nachfahr*innen der Opfer bedingen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Most adult Namibians own mobile phones (88%) and radios (67%). Four in 10 (40%) own television sets, and one in four (25%) own computers. Daily Internet use has multiplied over the past decade, increasing from 5% in 2008 to 28% in 2019. But more than four in 10 Namibians (44%) still “never” use
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the Internet. The most common source of daily news for Namibians is the radio (62%), followed by TV (40%), the Internet (27%), social media (27%), and newspapers (23%). Among the three-fourths (76%) of adult Namibians who have heard of social media, half (51%) see its effects on society as positive, while one-fourth (24%) see them as negative. Social media users are most frequently blamed as sources of false (fake) news (by 67% of respondents), followed by journalists (62%) and politicians (60%). Eight out of 10 Namibians regard the country’s news media as “completely free” (47%) or “somewhat free” (33%). But a majority (56%) think the government should have the right to prevent publications it disapproves of – more than twice as many as a decade ago. Moreover, majorities say the government should be able to limit or prohibit the sharing of false news (64%), of information or opinions that it disapproves of (54%) or that criticize or insult the president (62%), and of hate speech (62%). Yet more than half (55%) of citizens say that unrestricted access to the Internet and social media should be protected." (Key findings)
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